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Our Twenty-second Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in short, MOP-22 convened for its second day in Bangkok, Thailand,yesterday.

In the morning, delegates considered the special situation of Haiti and compliance and reporting issues. The co-chairs also led delegates through a review of the agenda and decisions to be forwarded to the high-level segment.

Plenary was adjourned mid-morning to allow contact groups on QPS, ODS destruction, the ToR for the evaluation of the financial mechanism, as well as the Budget Committee to convene throughout the day.

Our plenary reconvened at 7 pm in the evening and heard updates from contact and informal groups and we ended around 9 pm. It was a tiring day. None of the contact groups which met in the afternoon did not complete their work. And we only have today for the final day of the preparatory segment. Tomorrow is the start of the high level segment.

Greetings from Bangkok. I am here to lead the Brunei's delegation to the 22nd Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The meeting is held at the United Nations Building in Bangkok from 8th to 12th November 2010.

Yesterday was the first day of the meeting. The first three days are the preparatory meeting at senior officials level and the last two days will be the high level or ministerial level meeting.

What is the Montreal Protocol and what does it do to us in Brunei?

The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion. It is believed that if the international agreement is adhered to, the ozone layer is expected to recover by 2050. This is probably one of the best example of international cooperation. More than 196 countries have ratified it. It helps everyone in the world including all of us in Brunei…

Yesterday morning, together with the Director of Housing Development, took a stock on how construction is going on in the various packages which we have awarded to several contractors. Altogether there are like 6 different main contractors building around 1,931 houses in the Meragang area plus about 800+s in the Tanah Jambu. They are all due for completion by next year or 2012.

Next year we will see a bumper crop of housing. Together with the 2,000 houses in Pandan built by BEDB plus our smaller projects in Rimba, there should be more than 4,000 families receiving their houses. For the Belait District, it should cover applicants quite close to the year 2000 but for applicants in Brunei/Muara District, these houses in Meragang will bring in 1993 and 1994 applicants.

The houses are built much faster now due to technology changes. Previously, you would see contractors building the tiang, the beams etc before laying the bricks. We learnt which is fast and the one built by Bina Puri in Pand…

I was very intrigued when I read a news article about a film-maker believes he has found evidence of time travel in footage from a Charlie Chaplin film premiere shot in 1928. You can go to youtube or the still as above. George Clarke, from Belfast, says he has been puzzled for more than a year by the film which appears to show a woman talking on a mobile phone. He has posted the video on YouTube where it has notched up more than 2.2 million hits in just ten days, reports the BBC. Mr Clarke was checking the extras on a Chaplin DVD box-set and began watching a clip of the 1928 Hollywood premiere of The Circus. "As I sat back to watch it I realised in the first 30 seconds there's a lady strolling by with her hand up to her ear which looked quite familiar in today's society," he said. "So I wound it back and watched it again, zoomed it in and slowed it down and got other people in to check it out. Everybody had the same reaction - it looks like she's talking on a m…